Dow gives 12 nonprofits a boost

DOW GIVES

A committee of Dow employees and community members selected the recipients for the 2013 Dow Gives Community Grants program. Dow has provided community grants to communities in the Seadrift Operations area since 2004 and has awarded more than $500,000 to area nonprofit agencies and organizations. For 2013, grants have been awarded to:

• Austwell-Tivoli Independent School District - $8,883 for playground equipment for the Austwell-Tivoli Elementary School.

• Hospice of South Texas - $7,995 for portable ultrasound equipment to assist medical directors in bedside treatment for their patients.

• The Bartimaeus Foundation - $7,490 for a SPOT machine to be used through the Future Sight project, which offers free vision screenings to schools, churches and day cares in Victoria and surrounding counties.

• Victoria Business and Education Coalition - $5,450 for supplies and equipment to educate youth about personal leadership and work readiness through various programs.

• Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic School - $4,961.29 to install a rainwater harvesting system on campus.

• Boys and Girls Club of Victoria - $4,500 for exterior gym doors renovations to improve facility safety and program participation.

• St. Peters Baptist Church - $4,390.19 to place automated external defibrillators in several area churches.

• Calhoun High School - $3,138.76 for supplies and equipment for the STEM program (developing Scientists, Technologists, Engineers and Mathematicians) robotics team.

• Victoria Adult Literacy Council - $2,013 for the family literacy in practice program to purchase books for an after-school family learning program.

• Port Lavaca First United Methodist Church - $2,000 for kitchen equipment to be used in the Harvest Kitchen operated at the church.

• Golden Crescent Court Appointed Special Advocates - $1,717.12 for communications tools to be used by case volunteers in the field.

CASA Training

Volunteer training for Golden Crescent Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) will be at the St. James Catholic Church, 202 E Santiago St. in Refugio, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. June 8 and June 15. Volunteer candidates must attend both sessions. Volunteer training will also be held in Edna at the First United Methodist Church, 216 W. Main St., from 5:30-7:30 p.m. June 11. For more information, call Debbie Ramirez, volunteer coordinator, at 361-573-3734 or visit goldencrescentcasa.org.

Tim Hornback is appreciative of anything that helps make the time of his Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) more productive.

The agency has received a Dow Community Grant for $1,717.12 to purchase four Apple iPads and accessories.

"The Dow grant will allow CASA case supervisors greater contact with our volunteers, sharing of documents and information and recording of case notes during once unproductive time," said Hornback, executive director of the nonprofit agency.

Often case supervisors, who may oversee up to 30 volunteers each, are in courtroom halls waiting for cases to be heard or traveling with others to see children in distant Texas foster placements, explained Hornback.

"CASA will be able to share information not only with volunteers on a timelier basis but also with social workers, attorneys, teachers and medical professionals in order to meet the needs of our community's abused and neglected children," Hornback said.

More than 40 organizations applied for the program, which provides funding to projects focused on improving the long-term success and quality of life of area communities, according to a news release from Dow.

"I am very pleased that UCC Seadrift Operations is able to support such worthwhile projects that will benefit so many people in our area," site director Crystal King said in the release.

"All the nonprofits receiving funding are taking important action in making our communities even better places to live, and on behalf of all the Seadrift Operations employees, I applaud their efforts."

One of the grant recipients is Calhoun High School. It will use the $3,138.76 grant to purchase equipment and supplies for the school's award-winning robotics team.

"We are truly honored to be able to partner with Dow to energize local students about STEM careers though our robotics program," said Amy Boone, the Partners in Education coordinator who submitted the grant.

"Without this funding, our program would have been on hold."

The Bartimaeus Foundation will receive a $7,490 grant to purchase equipment to offer free vision screenings to schools, churches and day cares in Victoria and surrounding counties.

"I get goose bumps thinking about all the vision problems we can prevent in children with the funding from Dow," Amy Kirkpatrick-Hartman, therapeutic optometrist and representative for the Bartimaeus Foundation, said in the news release.